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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980025">Hell Was The Journey, But It Brought Me Heaven</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterlilyvioletfog/pseuds/waterlilyvioletfog'>waterlilyvioletfog</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Catelyn Tully Stark/Ned Stark, Minor Satin/Jon Snow, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Jon Snow/Ygritte, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Theon's Canonical Proof of Abuse, i am in rarepair hell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:14:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980025</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterlilyvioletfog/pseuds/waterlilyvioletfog</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you are born with no soulmark. Sometimes your soulmark represents your true love. Sometimes your soulmark represents you or your fate. Sometimes your soulmark and the soulmark of your true love are the same. Sometimes your true love's true love isn't you. </p><p>Jon Snow was born with three arrows over his heart. </p><p>Sansa Stark was born with a yellow songbird on her arm. </p><p>Brienne of Tarth was born with a sword running up her thigh. </p><p>This is how they found their soulmates, and how they loved them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Sansa Stark &amp; Jon Snow, Sansa Stark/Jeyne Poole, Theon Greyjoy/Jon Snow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Arrow To the Heart (Jon Snow)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>[Covers face] YES the title is Taylor Swift YES it's from her new album YES it's invisible string YES I listen to the album a bunch YES I can recite The Last Great American Dynasty entirely from memory. <br/>TIME curious TIME cutting me OPEN and HEALING ME FINE- where there CLUES i didn't SEE? And isn't it just so PRETTY to THINK that all along there was some ~INVISIBLE STRING~ tying you to ME</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Robert Baratheon, the heir to Storm's End, was born with a wolf spread across his stomach. His parents, Steffon and Cassana Estermont, quickly sent word to the Starks, who were a bit perplexed because their only son, Brandon, had no soulmark at all. Their second son, Eddard, when he was born, had a pair of blue eyes peering out of the nape of his neck, but that could mean pretty much anything, the two families agreed. Best to wait it out. It could indicate he was meant to marry a Tully just as well as a Baratheon. Stannis Baratheon's heart was covered with flames.</p><p>The Starks' third child was a girl, Lyanna, and she had branching, thorny vines racing up her calves, which the maester thought could grow and stretch to resemble a stag's antlers. Thus, it was marked down in the Citadel's books that Lyanna Stark and Robert Baratheon were soulmates. They were summarily betrothed, which inconvenienced exactly no one, as an alliance between the Starks and the Baratheons had already been in the works. </p><p>Unfortunately for everyone, Lyanna Stark and Robert Baratheon were absolutely <em>not</em> soulmates. Robert's soulmate was Eddard Stark (who may or may not have been his) and Lyanna's mark had much less to do with the person she was destined to be with, and more to do with the horrible fate that was doomed to befall her. Ned Stark realized most of this as his sister lay dying in her birthing bed, half a world away from where Lyanna had been born. </p><p>Jon Snow, as Ned Stark named his nephew, was born with arrows on his tiny left pectoral, right over his tiny little heart. </p><p>The years passed quietly at Winterfell. Catelyn Tully, now Catelyn Stark, bore Robb during the war, then Sansa three years later. Arya was born during the Greyjoy Rebellion. In the aftermath, Ned brought home a hostage, Theon Greyjoy, who was heir to Pyke now that his brothers were dead. Robb was the only Stark who asked Theon what his soulmark was, so he was the only one to know that Theon had a blue rose on his ankle, just like the ones that grew in the Winterfell glass gardens. Robb told Theon it would probably mean he'd marry a Northern girl, since he was pretty sure blue roses didn't grow anywhere else. </p><p>"Maester Luwin," a six year old Robb asked one day, "Do the winter roses grow in other parts of Westeros?" </p><p>"No, my lord, they don't." </p><p>"I thought so." Robb was satisfied. "I told you, Theon! You are <em>definitely</em> going to marry a Northerner." </p><p>Oh, but which one? It wouldn't be a boy, Theon thought. Ironborn men might take other men as members of their crew, or might even rape them, but they didn't <em>marry</em> them. So it had to be a girl. Not a whore: Ironborn didn't marry whores, when they could just pay for them, by the iron price or the gold price. So a highborn girl, because Theon was going to be a lord someday and lords, as a general rule, did <em>not</em> marry commoners. Mayhaps he'd marry Sansa Stark, or Jeyne Poole! Then he'd be a part of Ned Stark's household. Then, he could have a family again. </p><p>(This last thought was never consciously thought by Theon, but his subconscious screamed it all the same.) </p><p>Meanwhile, Lord Eddard grew a bit worried when he learned that the Greyjoy boy favored the bow as his weapon. He did <em>not</em> want to have to execute his nephew's soulmate. He took to having Theon carry Ice to executions. <em>This is the sword that could go through your neck, boy. Make sure you leave no mourners should that happen.</em> He wasn't exactly pleased when Theon turned out to be an absolute little shit, but it was something of a comfort. After all, Jon did not care for absolute little shits. </p><p>Years passed, and Catelyn bore her husband two more children: Brandon and Rickon. </p><p>A few years after Rickon was born, Jon Arryn died, King Robert rode north to Winterfell, and the beautiful blue eyes on the back of Ned's neck were cut in half as Ice passed through them. </p><p>
  <strong>---------- </strong>
</p><p>Jon Snow wondered many times throughout his life if someone was his soulmate. </p><p>When he met Ygritte, an archer, a wildling warrior woman, the thought came instantly to mind, but he put the thought aside. He was a man of the Night's Watch! To be <em>soulmates</em> with a <em>wildling</em>- it was blasphemy! And more than a bit overly romantic, like something out of one of Sansa's songs! </p><p>He never got the chance to find out, because even though they laid together many times on their journey south of the Wall, he never got a proper look at her pale, wiry body. </p><p>When she was dead and he made himself carry her to a pyre and set her alight, he never dared peel back her furs to see if perhaps there was a wolf or a crow marking her skin. </p><p>(He might have found a rose, a blue rose, just like the kind that grew in the glass gardens at Winterfell. She did love the story of Bael the Bard and the blue rose left in the Stark girl's bed, afterall. But he never looked to see if the woman he'd loved had his mark.) </p><p>The thought struck him a few times, watching Satin strike a target with his arrows. Satin was beautiful and funny and always smelled nice, so Jon thought he really wouldn't have minded it if Satin were his soulmate. </p><p>But Satin was his steward, and Jon was terribly busy with his duties as Lord Commander, so he never got the courage or the time to kiss Satin, let alone see his soulmark. </p><p>And then he died and came back and Jon left the Night's Watch pretty quickly after that, so he never saw Satin's soulmark. </p><p>(He might have found a rose, a blue winter rose, just like the ones he remembered growing in the glass gardens at Winterfell. Sansa used to gather them by the armful and give them to her friend, Jeyne Poole, he remembered suddenly one evening after Satin had left his chambers for his own and Jon was alone with no one but Ghost for company. But Jon never asked if Satin would let him love him.) </p><p>Before Jon had left for the Night's Watch, whenever Jon was in the yard at Winterfell, hot and angry and with no idea of what to do with his feelings, he <em>never</em>, absolutely <em>never</em> thought about the fact that Theon Greyjoy's fingers had calluses from his bows and arrows. But he did sometimes after he came back, if only because Greyjoy was missing so many of those fingers. </p><p>"Jon," Sansa asked, late one evening, after they had gone through the grain inventory, "what's your soulmark?" </p><p>Jon looked up at her from where he'd been staring into the fire. "Three arrows," he said, "right over my heart." </p><p>"Over your <em>heart</em>?" </p><p>Jon groaned. "I'm going to regret telling you that, aren't I?" </p><p>Sansa hummed, thinking. "Do you ever think- maybe Theon...?" The question was asked delicately, perfectly aware of how Jon might shut down the conversation now it had veered into such personal waters. Jon preferred to brood silently rather than talk about his feelings, which Sansa understood. She was more prone to sitting quietly lost in thought, too. They were very much their father's children. </p><p>"I- I don't know, Sansa." Jon sighed. "I've thought a few times that mayhaps someone was my soulmate, but I've never asked or checked. And I <em>have</em> thought, maybe it's Theon. But, Sansa, he's- he's not at all like he was when we were children. And maybe that is all for the better! He was an ass! But I'd worry a lot about hurting him. He's been hurt a lot- by his family, by our father, by the Boltons. And further, the Ironborn don't approve of men being lovers." </p><p>Sansa nodded, like she understood. But then, who else understood better? </p><p>-------- </p><p>Jon fell in love with Theon a little bit at a time over about twenty years. </p><p>He fell in love with Theon's thick black hair and his nose, which Jon later found out was exactly like Asha Greyjoy's in that it was both not quite straight and totally charming. These he fell in love with when he first met Theon and Jon was all set and ready to follow Theon around until his father's ward opened up his mouth and absolutely everything that came out of it was total and complete rubbish. </p><p>He fell in love with the breadth of Theon's shoulders when he was twelve, at which point Jon became so thoroughly furious at Theon that he refused to speak to him for a full fortnight. Absolutely no one noticed, and if they had, they would have assumed Theon had made some comment about Jon's mother. They would have probably been right.</p><p>At any given time when Jon was four and ten, if he was thinking about Theon Greyjoy it was to think about how much he absolutely without a doubt <em>hated</em> him. And also how much he wanted to kiss Theon until he stopped looking smug. </p><p>Now, both of them were adults and Theon Greyjoy was slowly growing back his thick black hair and his nose looked very different from how it used to and he stood sort of stooped over and hunched up so as to look very small. Whenever Jon saw Theon curl into himself, his heart ached. He wanted to rush over and say something rude to him so Theon would stand tall and imposing again. Theon was taller than Jon was. It didn't seem fair that Theon should pretend to be smaller. </p><p>But he didn't do anything about it. </p><p>Thankfully, when Jon was one and twenty, Theon walked over to him one night at a feast and kissed Jon until neither of them could breathe. After that, Jon became much less worried about hurting Theon. Well, he worried, but differently. </p><p>"My scars," Jon said awkwardly, "my hand." </p><p>Theon rolled his eyes. "I have thrice as many scars as you, Snow, and several fewer fingers. Your hand's just a mess of scar tissue, it's not <em>missing</em> anything." That made Jon feel a good deal better. </p><p>Theon was growing back into himself these days- or, not quite <em>back</em> into himself, because he was not quite such a colossal shithead as he'd been before, but he was very definitely not like the young man who'd been called Reek. </p><p>One night, they lay together in bed (Jon's. It was suitably large for two fully grown men, and also Theon didn't have one anymore. Sansa had danced around clapping her hands when she found out about them and promptly ordered Theon's few possessions moved into Jon's room and the bunk he'd been occupying offered to a new young guard. Arya had looked mildly disgusted but Jon was pretty sure that had more to do with her disgust about <em>any</em> romance than Theon being Jon's lover in particular. She had not threatened Theon, but only because she had the good sense to know Theon would probably shatter into a thousand pieces if ever threatened with a knife.) with their feet tangled together and Jon saw the blue winter rose on Theon's ankle. </p><p>"Huh," Jon remarked, "your mark looks like one of the roses in the glass gardens." </p><p>"Robb always thought it meant I was fated to marry a Northern girl." </p><p>"Will you settle for marrying me?" </p><p>Theon stared at Jon for a second, then answered with a kiss. "<em>Obviously</em>, Snow."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Yellow Songbird On Her Arm (Sansa Stark)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sansa Stark was born with a yellow songbird on her arm, but soulmarks can change.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Catelyn Tully was born with a wolf as her soulmark. Hoster Tully, seeing an obvious connection, sent a raven to the Starks post-haste. They had two sons: Brandon and Eddard. Eddard's soulmark was a pair of blue eyes, but Brandon would be the heir. Did Hoster want his daughter's happiness or more political power? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lord Tully sent back his answer and it was decided over the next few moons of back-and-forth ravens that Catelyn Tully would marry Brandon Stark when she was six-and-ten and the betrothal would be officially announced as soon as she had her moonblood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The betrothal was announced when Catelyn was twelve, but she never got to marry the hot-headed Stark heir. Instead, Lyanna Stark, her head filled with romantic notions and not a little desperation to get away from her hairy, drunken, philandering fiance, ran off with the Crown Prince, and Brandon Stark ran right on after her into the loving arms of Aerys Targaryen, the Second of His Name, May He Rot In Seven Hells. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thus ended the betrothal of Catelyn Tully to Brandon Stark, and thus began Catelyn's betrothal to Eddard Stark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ned was shorter, quieter, and plainer than his big brother. He was also just as much of a maiden as she was on their wedding night, which Catelyn decided probably wasn't a bad thing, especially since he had- well. Stamina. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nine moons later, Robb Stark was born with a sword running straight down his chest with a wolf's head as the pommel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A warrior," Catelyn remarked to her sister Lysa. "He'll grow big and strong then. I shall take what blessings the Gods give me." Lysa said nothing, just watched her sister and her nephew with jealous, injured eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catelyn lived with Robb in Riverrun for almost a year before the end of the war. Her husband had gone ahead to Winterfell to make the castle ready for the arrival of its mistress. And, it turns out, to settle his bastard son and the boy's wet nurse into their new home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catelyn was displeased, to put it mildly. Absolutely furious, to put it accurately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she aimed her anger at the boy rather than her husband, and three years after Robb's birth, Sansa was born with a yellow songbird on her upper arm. Ned had the bells rung in the Wintertown for days. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know what it means, my lady," Ned laughingly told his wife, "and quite frankly, I don't truly care! She could have a damn </span>
  <em>
    <span>lion</span>
  </em>
  <span> for a soulmark, and I wouldn't be any less delighted with her." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Now </span>
  <em>
    <span>that's</span>
  </em>
  <span> a lie. You hate the Lannisters." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"True enough, but even a Lannister couldn't truly be horrible if they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> daughter's soulmate." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mark your words well, my lord. I'll tell an Umber you're turning southron if you're not careful." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Three more children followed: Arya with a crescent moon, Brandon with a pair of wings on his shoulder blades, and Rickon with a bear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The wings, at least, make sense," Ned muttered one evening after having found Bran climbing trees in the Godswood when he should have been at lessons with Maester Luwin. "The boy thinks he's a bird." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The bear makes sense too, Ned." Cat wrapped her arms around her husband's shoulders and kissed his cheek. "Besides the Mormonts, he's a perfect terror." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ned snorted. "Bears aren't terrifying." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes they are!" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"With all due respect, Cat, when have </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> ever seen a bear?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, some castle or another. I travelled through much of the Riverlands in my youth, you know." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh did you." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I did! And I must have seen a bear at some point or another: I remember it very clearly, even if I can't remember where I saw it. I am sure it was very frightening." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hmmm. In my experience, bears are usually rather placid unless of course one bothers them. Tell me, were you by chance about five years old when you saw this terrible creature?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...Mayhaps." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>_____</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa Stark's very best friend in the whole wide world was Jeyne Poole, the steward's daughter. Jeyne was pretty, or at least much less wild than Arya so it seemed like she was prettier. Jeyne was sweet natured, wide eyed, and mild mannered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One time, when they were eight years old, Jeyne got knocked to the ground by Theon Greyjoy racing around like he owned the place. Jeyne looked so upset that Sansa just wanted to cup Jeyne's face between her hands and kiss her tears away, like something out of the songs. Instead, she told Jon. Jon would have no qualms about beating Theon up (unlike Robb, who'd frown and say that Theon shouldn't have done that and forget anything had happened in about twenty seconds) so Theon would suffer the consequences of his actions and Sansa didn't have to raise her voice at all! Angry bastard brothers were very good for this sort of thing, Sansa reflected, though she never did tell Septa Mordane or her mother about the incident, even when Jon got in trouble for punching Theon in the face. Jon may have only been eleven, and Theon sixteen, but Jon could take care of himself. Jeyne couldn't. Jeyne was just- Jeyne. Sansa would do anything to take care of her, even though she knew it was technically supposed to be the other way around. She made sure Jon got an apple tart and a chicken leg that night, even though he'd been sent to bed without supper, and she snuck an extra apple tart onto Jeyne's plate. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Theon's</span>
  </em>
  <span> apple tart was mysteriously displaced down Arya's gullet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Wild little sisters were very good for that sort of thing.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa had absolutely no idea who her soulmate was. Her soulmark seemed to fit Sansa herself rather than anyone else. "It's a bit disappointing," Sansa told Jeyne one night as they curled up in her big warm bed. "I would have hoped to have a stag or a rose or something suitably romantic like that." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"At least a songbird is still pretty," Jeyne pointed out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa nodded. "That's true. What is yours, anyway?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, it's a snowdrop. On my hip." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"May I see it?" As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Sansa started panicking a little. It was considered rude to ask to see someone's soulmark! Especially if it wasn't in a particularly visible place, like a hand or a foot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeyne flushed, but she nodded, hiking up her nightgown. Sure enough, a little white flower was there peeking out of Jeyne's smallclothes. Sansa stared at Jeyne's soulmark, then silently pulled Jeyne's gown back down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's lovely," she said solemnly, "just like you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On a terrible afternoon in the Riverlands, Joffrey Baratheon made the wonderful decision to get his betrothed drunk and slap around a peasant boy in front of Arya Stark. The tale is well known; it ends with the butcher’s boy chopped into pieces, a sword thrown into a river, and an execution called for Lady, the direwolf. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Lady died, Sansa screamed and howled and tossed back her head. Jory Cassel tried to grab a hold of her, but she twisted and screamed and shrieked and grabbed for her own arm, falling to her knees. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It hurts!” she cried out. “My mark!” Sansa pulled her sleeve up, up, up. Jory, Arya, Sansa, and a few others watched, transfixed as Sansa’s mark-- </span>
  <em>
    <span>rippled</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and the bright yellow bird turned gray. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A maester was summoned, who examined her, poking and prodding about to see if anything else had changed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Curious,” said the maester, “how very curious. Still, it does happen, especially with one so young as you, my lady. How very very curious. I shall write to the Citadel.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thus word was sent to the Citadel: Sansa Stark’s mark was </span>
  <em>
    <span>changing</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>----- </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The following are the changes that occurred to Sansa Stark’s mark, some of which were recorded by the Citadel, and some not:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Lord Eddard Stark was executed, the bird’s beak grew teeth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Joffrey Baratheon was murdered at his own wedding banquet, the bird grew hind quarters. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Lysa Arryn was tossed out of a window, the bird lost its wings. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Sansa Stark testified in a trial against Petyr Baelish, the bird finished its transformation, sprouting a long tail, pointed ears, and a definitively canine snout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Sansa was fifteen, she declared to her brother Jon that she was quite certain her mark was done changing. He wrote to his friend, Maester Samwell, that his sister’s mark was a grey wolf, curled slightly, its back arched, its paws and tail pointed down, its head alert. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Lord Stannis called my sister ‘Lady Lannister’. He could not have been more wrong, Sam. Of all us Starks, Sansa alone bears a direwolf upon her skin.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>----- </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the age of seventeen, Sansa Stark had no idea who her soulmate was, and she had no particular reason to long for them. She had her brothers and sisters, her home, her heritage, safety, security, freedom, and comfort. Jon had absolute trust in her, Arya had fought the last person to imply Sansa was stupid, Bran listened to her advice, and Rickon was slowly but surely becoming less of a demon-creature sent from the Seven Hells. All told, she had no real reason at all to even </span>
  <em>
    <span>think</span>
  </em>
  <span> about them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She longed for her soulmate anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the little girl in her, the part that desired a castle in the clouds with a handsome prince. Well, not a prince-- she was quite certain now that she most definitely did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to marry a man at all-- but. Love? She wanted love. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Love came on a ship from Braavos, in the form of a scarred young woman who had been called Arya Stark. Jeyne was not Arya Stark, had never been, could never be. <em>How ridiculous</em>, Sansa thought sometimes. <em>Her eyes are brown, not gray. She's dainty and sweet and wears her hair all differently, and she certainly doesn't own a sword. She's nothing like Arya at all</em>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeyne had lived for over three years in the house of the Sea Lord before she'd felt well enough to return to Westeros. That she'd returned at all shocked Sansa a little bit, knowing all Littlefinger and the Bolton bastard had done to her. But Jeyne sent word she was taking a ship from Braavos to White Harbour, and Sansa decided to make it a trip to visit the Manderlys and see the canal that was being built (Jon's idea). One the day Jeyne Poole set foot on Westerosi soil for the first time since fleeing to Braavos before the War for the Dawn, Sansa stood at the pier with a retinue of guards, all women. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeyne wore a headscarf covering her hair and the lower half of her face, but when she saw Sansa, she reached up with shaking fingers to reveal her frost-scarred face. Sansa thought her beautiful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Welcome home, Jeyne," Sansa said. Jeyne's answering smile was tremulous, but real. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>-----</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jon," Sansa asked her brother (or, well, technically cousin, but she certainly didn't care) one evening, "You've had lovers before, correct?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Only one," he said. "Her name was Ygritte." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ygritte. A pretty name. A wildling?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Freefolk," he corrected her offhandedly, "a spearwife. She was three years older than I and certainly no fair maiden, but I loved her." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She died, then?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The first wave against Castle Black. She was shot through the lung. I burned her body myself." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm sorry." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was, too." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat in silence for a moment, considering a dead warrior woman. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jon." He flicked his eyes to her in acknowledgement. "How- Seven Hells, how to put this? How does one go about becoming someone else's lover?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jon stared at her. "I pointed a knife at her throat and she decided to make me hers. I literally had Ghost sleep between us until one night she simply turned up, in my furs, and started kissing me. I've no notion of how one would go about seducing someone, Sansa, if that's what you're asking." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed. "You're worse than I'd feared." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course I am. Do I <em>seem</em> like the seducing sort?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa snorted. "No. You absolutely seem the sort to <em>be</em> seduced, though." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll take that as a compliment." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat in silence for a little while longer, contentedly listening to the fire crackling in the hearth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sansa?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jeyne's been through a lot. Be careful." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>----- </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa <em>was</em> careful. Certainly more careful than any suitor had ever been with her.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>First, she gifted Jeyne with an armful of blue roses. Jeyne smiled and thanked her for them, and put them into a pitcher full of water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her second gift was a pair of gloves, embroidered with little white flowers, blue circles, and green leaves. Jeyne's face lit up when she saw the fine stitches. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, these are so lovely, Sansa! Thank you!" She ran hesitant fingers over the patterns. "White flowers. Snowdrops. You remembered." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course I remembered," Sansa said, blushing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeyne thought for a moment. "I- I remember, in the Riverlands, your mark changed. What is it now?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A direwolf. Jon's very smug about it. He says it proves I'm a Stark, as much or more as the rest of them." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa gave Jeyne more things: a necklace, earrings, brightly colored thread, a pair of warm, sturdy shoes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her seventh gift was an apron, good white cloth with silvery trim. In the center of it was a large blue circle, in which she carefully worked a patch of snowdrop flowers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why are you giving me all of these, Sansa?" Jeyne asked.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm trying to say something, I suppose." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What are you trying to say?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa bit her lip. "I think I'm trying to say that I love you. Right now, as you are. And I'm not particularly concerned about how broken you are, or you feel sometimes, because I want to give you back the pieces and help you put them back together. And mayhaps I'll love you just as much when they're all sewn up properly, and mayhaps I'll love you even more, I don't know. It's-- not my duty, because I'm choosing it. My purpose? I think it's my purpose, Jeyne, loving you." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeyne's brown eyes were very wide and very hopeful. "I think I'd like that, Sansa." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sansa let out a breath, relieved. "Jeyne. May I kiss you right now?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeyne put her apron down on a chair and stepped over to her. She stood several inches shorter than Sansa, who was blessed with Tully height. Jeyne reached up a hand and cupped her freckled cheek. "You could," she said, "but really, I'd like to kiss you." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she did. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it!<br/>The other Starkling's soulmarks will be talked about in the next chapter, but not here. <br/>For the record, Robert and Cat are BOTH Ned's soulmates. Cat had a direwolf, which will be talked about more in the next chapter. It caused (checks notes) mild confusion. <br/>Satin, Ygritte, and Theon are all Jon's soulmates, but none of them are each other's, or at least they don't get the chance to be. Actually you know what? I think they'd all get along pretty well, they're all soulmates. <br/>Jon may or may not know about Lyanna being his mother, I'm not sure. I'll probably decide that later. <br/>I have no idea when I'll get the chance to update, but hopefully it'll be soon</p></blockquote></div></div>
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